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So, we’ve looked at what you should do before finding a tenant to live in your rental property. In this post we’re going delving into a checklist of things you need to do in between finding a tenant and accepting them.
You can view the full blog series, as well as download a tick-box checklist for all your start of tenancy tasks here:
Providing a Privacy Notice to Tenants*
In part one of our Start of Tenancy Checklist, we explained that most landlords will need to be registered with the ICO and will need to ensure their standard paperwork contains notices about how they will process their tenant’s data. We aren’t going to re-hash that information here, but we’re going to remind you to let your tenant know how you will store or process their data before you record any of it.
This is usually done via a privacy notice. If you use a standard application for accommodation form, you can include the privacy notice in this form.
The application for accommodation form is usually used by landlords to collect the tenant’s name, address, contact details and other financial details in order to conduct referencing and credit checks. If you’re going to collect tenant data even ahead of this point though, you’ll need to provide a privacy notice to your tenant.
This doesn’t have to be a huge hassle, there is plenty of information available on GDPR from trusted sources like the NRLA and plenty of free template documents as well. If you are using free templates, make sure these contain adequate sections about the processing of data to remain compliant.
Conducting Right to Rent Checks (England)*
If the property you are renting out is in England, you need to conduct right to rent checks. If your property is based elsewhere you can skip this step, but it is still advisable to request identification documents from prospective tenants.
Right to Rent checks must be carried out in England before a tenancy agreement is signed. You must carry out this check on all tenants over the age of 18, even if there is no tenancy agreement or the tenant is not named on the tenancy agreement.
You must also keep records of the documents you’ve checked and accepted to prove you’ve carried out this check. Failure to carry out these checks can result in unlimited fines and prosecution.
Right to Rent checks require you to check the immigration status of your prospective tenants by requesting identity documents. The checks apply to any person living in the property, whether they are named on the tenancy agreement or not. It is important to note that the checks are still required, even if letting to a family or friend. Documents you can accept for this purpose are:
- UK and EEA passports.
- Identity cards.
- Permanent residence cards.
- Travel documents showing indefinite leave to remain.
- Home office immigration status documents.
- Certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen.
For a full list of acceptable documents check the government’s Right to Rent guide (linked below).
Remember to photocopy or scan any identification documents the tenant provides you with. Store copies of the tenant’s identification documents as evidence that this check has been conducted and that your tenant has the right to rent in the UK.
There are exemptions, for instance you don’t need to carry out these checks on students or social tenants. It is recommended that you familiarise yourself with the government’s right to rent guide. The government guidelines contain more information on how to conduct these checks and also provide helpline details for landlords who have questions.
Tenant and Guarantor Referencing for Potential Tenants
Tenant referencing isn’t a legal requirement, but we cannot overstress the importance of conducting tenant screening.
Screening a tenant can save a lot of hassle and heartache down the line. The screening process should reveal whether the tenant is employed, how much they earn, where they’ve lived previously and more. Via this process the tenant is usually expected to provide wage slips and bank statements, using this information you should be able to conduct a credit check on the tenant.
The information you get from a credit check will differ by provider, but a typical check will reveal if the tenant has any CCJ’s whether they’ve committed fraud and how reliable they are when it comes to paying their debts.
For those landlords letting to students or first time tenants you should carry out screening checks on the guarantor so you know that they can be trusted to pay for property damage or rental shortfalls on behalf of the tenant (should this be an issue).
And that’s it! That’s everything to think about before accepting a tenant to live in your property! In part three of ‘A Start of Tenancy Checklist for Landlords’ we’ll be talking about crucial checks to make before your tenant moves in, involving everything from deposits to meter readings.
To access the full checklist now, download it here:
